Community Edition Current

Getting Started with

Community Edition
September 8, 2021
Contents

Welcome to Nutanix Community Edition........................................................3

Support for and Learning More About Community Edition and Acropolis
(AOS)............................................................................................................... 4

Recommended Community Edition Hardware............................................... 5

Community Edition Licensing Requirements.............................................................................................. 6

Preparing to Install Community Edition......................................................... 8

Installing Community Edition........................................................................ 10

Creating a Cluster........................................................................................... 12
Creating a Single-node Cluster.................................................................................................................12
Creating and Configuring a Multi-Node Cluster Manually........................................................................ 13
Destroying a Cluster..................................................................................................................................14

Getting Started................................................................................................ 16
Configuring Proxy Server Settings Before Logging Into the Web Console...............................................16
Logging Into the Web Console................................................................................................................. 17
Creating the Datastore: Storage Pool and Container............................................................................... 17
Creating a VM by Using the Web Console.............................................................................................. 19

Troubleshooting.............................................................................................. 23
Recovering From USB Failure (CE)......................................................................................................... 23
Recovering From SSD Failure (CE)......................................................................................................... 23
Recovering From CVM Error (CE)............................................................................................................24

Copyright..........................................................................................................25
WELCOME TO NUTANIX COMMUNITY
EDITION
Nutanix Community Edition is a free version of Nutanix AOS, which powers the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform.
The Community Edition of AOS is designed for people interested in test driving its main features on their own test
hardware and infrastructure. As stated in the license agreement, Community Edition is intended for internal business
operations and non-production use only.
Before you begin, consider that the commercially available Nutanix NX series systems are tuned for performance.
The enterprise-ready version of AOS is bundled as the engine driving our hyperconverged compute and storage
platform. You should not expect to achieve comparable benchmark numbers. For example, the NX series systems
include 10 GbE network interfaces, high core count dual CPUs, large amounts of memory, and high performance
enterprise-class solid-state drives (SSDs).
Even so, Community Edition performance is sufficient for a few VMs per node, given enough memory, CPU, and
network resources.

Table 1: What is in Community Edition

Hypervisor AHV with virtualization management

Single pane of glass control Prism web console to manage the cluster

Command-line management Nutanix command line (nCLI)

Ability to add nodes to the cluster One, three, or four nodes can comprise a cluster

Ease of installation and use Install and boot the hypervisor and AOS
environment from the USB device

Community Edition | Welcome to Nutanix Community Edition | 3

SUPPORT FOR AND LEARNING MORE
ABOUT COMMUNITY EDITION AND
ACROPOLIS (AOS)
Most of the support for Community Edition is available through the Next Community Edition forum. Nutanix asks
that you share your experiences and lessons learned with your fellow Community Edition users.
You can also visit the following pages for more information about Acropolis and the Nutanix architecture.

• Connect with other Community Edition users and download the Community Edition software at Nutanix Next
Community Edition Forum.
• Access Nutanix Hybrid Cloud Fundamentals course for NCA (Nutanix Certified Associate) certification.
• View videos about Community Edition at Nutanix nu.school YouTube channel - Getting Started with Community
Edition.
• Get more details about AOS, AHV, and other Nutanix features in the Nutanix documentation.
• Try Community Edition within minutes, with no hardware, no setup, and no cost for 2 hours at Community
Edition Test Drive.

Community Edition | Support for and Learning More About Community Edition and Acropolis (AOS) | 4
RECOMMENDED COMMUNITY EDITION
HARDWARE
The following table shows our recommendations for hardware to use with Community Edition, based on the hardware
we have tested. However, like other Community Edition users, you might find that other hardware works as well as
the recommended types. Visit the Community Edition Next forum for more details.

• Post Your Hardware Config

Table 2: System Configuration

Component Recommendation Notes

CPUs Intel CPUs with VT-x support. 4 core minimum; 2 cores

dedicated to the Controller VM

System memory 16 GB minimum 32 GB or greater recommended

for AOS features such as
One Controller VM per node with
deduplication,compression, or
optional deduplication/compression
more user VMs
features and more memory for one or
more user VMs

Network interface card (NIC) Intel-based NIC Some Community Edition users
have reported success using
Broadcom NICs

Host bus adapter (HBA) Community Edition supports

Advanced Host Controller
Interface (AHCI) SATA, or LSI
controller with:

• IT mode (Nutanix testing shows

better performance than IR)
• IR mode with pass-through
• IR mode with RAID-0

Storage Devices, All Drives Maximum number of SSD/HDD Some Community Edition users
drives per node is 4. have reported success using
more than 4 drives.

Storage Devices, Cold Tier 500 GB or greater available Hard disk drive (HDD) or Solid-
state drive (SSD) for cold-tier
Maximum 18 TB (3 x 6 TB HDDs)
storage

Storage Devices, Hot Tier Flash Single 200 GB SSD or greater

• Place SSD(s) before HDDs
(commonly Bay 0 or Bay 1). The
first bay number varies depending
on manufacturer labeling.
• NVMe-based drives are not
supported

Community Edition | Recommended Community Edition Hardware | 5

 Component Recommendation Notes

Boot device One 64 GB capacity device per Nutanix has successfully tested
node. It can be an external or and used external USB drives
internal device. and internal devices such as
a SATA DOM. USB 3.0 media
recommended.

Note: If you use a USB

drive, do not remove the USB
drive or device at any time
during your use of Community
Edition.

Firmware Consider updating the firmware

for any devices or hardware
you plan to use with Community
Edition to the latest edition or
edition recommended by the
hardware vendor.

Table 3: Other Recommendations

Component Recommendation

Cluster size Community Edition allows you to install single-node,

three-node, and four-node clusters.
Depending on your available hardware, Nutanix
recommends a three-node cluster to exercise the features
of Community Edition most effectively.

DHCP Server If you are using a DHCP server, ensure that static
IP addresses are assigned for hypervisor hosts and
Controller VMs.
Nutanix recommends not to use dynamic IP addressing
for hosts or Controller VMs.

Imaging software
• Linux: use the included dd utility
• Mac OS X: use the included dd utility
• Windows: ImageUSB from PassMark Software
(freeware)

Community Edition Licensing Requirements

To use the Community Edition, Nutanix requires the following actions and access. If you fail to meet these
requirements, access to your cluster will be blocked. The cluster remains operating but you will be unable to log on to
it. Otherwise, there are no licensing file requirements as with the commercially available Nutanix products.

Community Edition | Recommended Community Edition Hardware | 6

Table 4: Licensing Requirements

Requirement Enforcement

Admin account password change from default When you first logon to the Prism web console
with the admin account credentials, you must
immediately change the admin user password from
its default.

Nutanix Next account with logon credentials and the After you first logon to the Prism web console and
Community Edition role enabled change the admin credentials, you are prompted to
provide these credentials.

Outgoing TCP ports 80 or 8443 opened through An automated feedback mechanism named Pulse
your firewall that sends cluster alerts and usage statistics to
Nutanix requires Internet connectivity and port
access.

Install any pending Community Edition updates Nutanix make updates available occasionally. When
an upgrade is available, but not yet downloaded,
you must upgrade within 30 calendar days. Install
the available upgrade immediately once you have
downloaded it.
If you fail to meet these requirements, access to your
cluster will be blocked. The cluster remains operating but
you will be unable to log on to it.

Community Edition | Recommended Community Edition Hardware | 7

PREPARING TO INSTALL COMMUNITY
EDITION
Before you begin
Before you install Community Edition:

Procedure

1. Ensure that you have a valid account and log on credentials for the Next Community Edition forum, and that the
account has the Community Edition role associated with it.

2. Download the Community Edition software at the Community Edition forum topic Nutanix Next Community
Download Software. The latest release is usually in the most recent topic in the thread.

3. Download Rufus executable.

4. Prepare the USB drive or other boot device with the downloaded image of the imaging software.

Tip: If you are using a Linux or Mac OS X environment, you can use the dd command to image the device:
dd if=ce.img of=/dev/sdX
where X is the USB drive letter.

• [Linux only] To find the USB drive letter, check the output of this command:
for i in /dev/sd?; do udevadm info --query=all --name=$i; done

• (OS X only) List any storage devices:

diskutil list

• (OS X only) Show information about a specific device:

diskutil info /dev/X
where X is the USB drive.
(OS X only) For improved performance when imaging, specify a block size of 1 MB. For example:dd
if=ce.img of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m

What to do next
Have the following networking information ready for installation.

CAUTION: Nutanix recommends not to use dynamic IP addressing for hosts or Controller VMs. If you are using a
DHCP server, ensure that it is set to assign static IP addresses for hosts and Controller VMs.
Community Edition reserves IP addresses 192.168.5.0 through 192.168.5.254 for internal use. Nutanix
recommends using an IP address in the network ranges 10.x.x.x or 172.x.x.x for the Host and Controller
VM.

Community Edition | Preparing to Install Community Edition | 8

Table 5: Network Information Checklist

Host IP address
(for the Community Edition hypervisor host)

Host subnet mask

Host gateway

Controller VM IP address
(this becomes the virtual IP address that enables you to
log on and manage the cluster through the Prism web
console or an SSH terminal connection)

Controller VM subnet mask

Controller VM gateway

Community Edition | Preparing to Install Community Edition | 9

INSTALLING COMMUNITY EDITION
Before you begin
Ensure you have prepared the USB drive or device and gathered your network information as described in
Preparing to Install Community Edition on page 8.

Note: Do not remove the USB drive or device at any time during your use of Community Edition.

Procedure

1. Set the primary boot device to USB (or SATA DOM, if that is the case) on your server (also known as the node)
where you are going to install Community Edition.

2. If you are using an external boot device, insert the imaged USB drive or device into the node and restart the
node.
The node boots into the Nutanix Acropolis image.

3. Log on with the user name of install. A password is not required.

4. Select a keyboard layout by using the Up or Down arrow keys.

5. Read the WARNING about how performance tests are run on the discovered disks.

» Press Tab to move to Proceed if you are OK with the I/O performance tests, which will erase any existing
data on the disks.
» Press Tab to move to Cancel if you must back up existing data before installing Community Edition. This
choice exits the installer.

Figure 1: Example Installer Dialog

Community Edition | Installing Community Edition | 10

6. If you selected Proceed, Community Edition prompts you for the network information you gathered for the
Network Information Checklist in Preparing to Install Community Edition on page 8

7. Type the IP address information and use the Tab or arrow keys to go to the next field.

8. If you are creating a single-node cluster, press the spacebar to select Create single-node cluster?.

Note: A single-node cluster is created with redundancy factor 1. You cannot extend an existing single-node
cluster to a three- or four-node cluster, to automatically create a cluster with redundancy factor 2. To expand to
a three- or four-node cluster when you have a single-node cluster, destroy the cluster first, then create the new
cluster. See Destroying a Cluster on page 14.

Type a DNS server IP address in the required DNS field.

9. Read and scroll through the license agreement, then go to the I accept the end user license agreement
checkbox.

10. Press the spacebar to select the checkbox, then move to Start and press Enter.
The installation process displays status messages to the screen. When you see the Imaging process
completed successfully message, it means that the process is complete and then the Controller VM begins
starting up.

11. Press Enter to return to the logon prompt.

Note: The logon banner displays the Controller VM IP address.

What to do next
1. Log on to the Community Edition host, then open a secure shell session to the Controller VM IP address.
2. Configure a single-node or multi-node cluster.
3. See Getting Started on page 16.

Community Edition | Installing Community Edition | 11

CREATING A CLUSTER
Cluster Task/See this Topic

Creating a Single-node Cluster on page 12

Creating and Configuring a Multi-Node Cluster Manually on page 13

Destroying a Cluster on page 14

Creating a Single-node Cluster

Before you begin

Note:

• The logon banner displays the Controller VM IP address.

• Data resiliency is not applicable for single-node clusters; a Community Edition single-node cluster does
not provide resiliency or High Availability features, as multi-node clusters do.
• Do not remove the USB drive or device at any time during your use of Community Edition.
• A Community Edition Single-node Cluster is created with redundancy factor 1. You cannot extend
an existing single-node cluster to a three- or four-node cluster, to automatically create a cluster with
redundancy factor 2. To expand to a three- or four-node cluster when you have a single-node cluster,
destroy the cluster first, then create the new cluster. See Destroying a Cluster on page 14.

CAUTION: If you created a single-node cluster during installation (that is, you selected the Create single-node
cluster? checkbox) you do not need to perform this procedure. This topic is included for reference only.

Procedure

1. At the logon prompt shown after installing Community Edition, log on to the Community Edition host. User name
is root and password is nutanix/4u.

2. Log on to the Controller VM through a secure shell session. User name is nutanix and password is
nutanix/4u.
For example: ssh nutanix@192.168.5.2

3. Create the single node cluster, where cvm_ip is the Controller VM's IP address.
nutanix@cvm$ cluster -s cvm_ip --redundancy_factor=1 create
A series of messages displays, indicating that the cluster is being created and cluster services are starting. When
the process is finished, a cluster created message is displayed and the prompt returns.

4. Configure one or more DNS servers, then verify that the settings are in place.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster add-to-name-servers servers="dns_server"
Replace dns_server with the IP address of a single DNS server or with a comma-separated list of DNS server IP
addresses.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster get-name-servers

Community Edition | Creating a Cluster | 12

Creating and Configuring a Multi-Node Cluster Manually
Before you begin

• Do not remove the USB drive or device at any time during your use of Community Edition.
• A single-node cluster is created with redundancy factor 1. You cannot extend an existing single-node cluster to a
three- or four-node cluster, to automatically create a cluster with redundancy factor 2. To expand to a three-node
or four-node cluster when you have a single-node cluster, destroy the cluster first, then create the new cluster. See
Destroying a Cluster on page 14.

Note: As described, this procedure is performed from the Community Edition hypervisor host. You can also perform
it remotely by logging on to the Controller VM virtual IP address through a secure shell session. You specified this IP
address as part of installation (Preparing to Install Community Edition on page 8).

Procedure

1. At the logon prompt shown after installing Community Edition, log on to the Community Edition host. User name
is root and password is nutanix/4u.

2. Log on to the Controller VM through a secure shell session. User name is nutanix and password is
nutanix/4u.
For example: ssh nutanix@192.168.5.2

3. Create the cluster.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster -s cvm_ip_addrs create
Replace cvm_ip_addrs with a comma-separated list of Controller VM IP addresses. Include all Controller
VMs that will be part of the cluster. For example, if the new cluster comprises of four nodes, include all the IP
addresses of all four Controller VMs.

4. Start the Nutanix cluster.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster start
If the cluster starts properly, a series of messages are displayed for each node in the cluster, showing cluster
services with a status of UP.

Community Edition | Creating a Cluster | 13

 5. Set cluster parameters.

a. Define the name of the cluster.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-params new-name=cluster_name
Replace cluster_name with a name for the cluster of your choice.
b. Configure one or more DNS servers, then verify that the settings are in place.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster add-to-name-servers servers="dns_server"
Replace dns_server with the IP address of a single DNS server or with a comma-separated list of DNS server
IP addresses.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster get-name-servers

c. Configure the NTP servers.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster add-to-ntp-servers servers="ntp_server"
Replace ntp_server with the IP address or host name of a single NTP server or with a comma-separated list
of NTP server IP addresses or host names.
d. Configure an external IP address for the cluster.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster set-external-ip-address \
external-ip-address="cluster_ip_address"
Replace cluster_ip_address with a virtual IP address for the cluster.
This parameter is required for your Community Edition cluster.

Destroying a Cluster
About this task
Destroying a cluster resets all nodes in the cluster to the factory configuration. All cluster configuration and
guest VM data are unrecoverable after destroying the cluster.

Procedure

1. Log into a Controller VM through SSH.

2. Stop the cluster.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster stop
Wait to proceed until output similar to the following is displayed for every Controller VM in the cluster.
CVM: 172.16.8.191 Up, ZeusLeader
Zeus UP [3167, 3180, 3181, 3182, 3191, 3201]
Scavenger UP [3334, 3351, 3352, 3353]
ConnectionSplicer DOWN []
Hyperint DOWN []
Medusa DOWN []
DynamicRingChanger DOWN []
Pithos DOWN []
Stargate DOWN []
Cerebro DOWN []
Chronos DOWN []
Curator DOWN []
Prism DOWN []
AlertManager DOWN []
StatsAggregator DOWN []

Community Edition | Creating a Cluster | 14

 SysStatCollector DOWN []

3. Destroy the cluster.

CAUTION: Performing this operation deletes all cluster and guest VM data in the cluster.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster -f destroy

Note: If cluster services are not DOWN, you cannot destroy the cluster. Other cluster issues also prevent
destroying a cluster. Connect with other Community Edition users at Nutanix Next Community Edition Forum
if you encounter issues while destroying a cluster.

You can now recreate your cluster.

Community Edition | Creating a Cluster | 15

GETTING STARTED
Note: See also the Getting Started with Community Edition video.

Now, that your cluster is created, you can:

Getting started Task Information/See this Topic

(Optional) Configure your HTTP proxy server. Configuring Proxy Server Settings Before Logging Into
the Web Console on page 16

Log on to the web console and explore this

management interface to your cluster and its related • Logging Into the Web Console on page 17
components. • The Web Console Guide at Nutanix documentation

Ensure that your outgoing network ports 80 or 8443 Pulse is enabled by default after installation. You
are open. need these ports open as part of your Community
Edition licensing requirements.

Configure your storage by creating one storage pool Creating the Datastore: Storage Pool and Container on
(consisting of all physical disks in the cluster) and page 17
one container (a datastore consisting of all available
storage capacity in the pool).

Create and manage virtual machines. Creating a VM by Using the Web Console on
page 19
Check cluster health. The web console shows a summary of information
about the cluster. For health details, click Home >
Health. The Web Console Guide describes more in
the Health Monitoring topic.

Install any pending Community Edition updates. As updates are made available in future, this
Getting Started guide will describe how to install
them.

Configuring Proxy Server Settings Before Logging Into the Web Console
About this task
If you are deploying Community Edition behind a proxy server, you must use the Nutanix command-line
interface (nCLI) to configure a proxy server. This step helps ensure that Community Edition can validate
your credentials.

Procedure

1. At the logon prompt shown after installing Community Edition, log on to the Community Edition host. User name
is root and password is nutanix/4u.

2. Log on to the Controller VM through a secure shell session. User name is nutanix and password is
nutanix/4u.
For example: ssh nutanix@192.168.5.2

3. Create the HTTP/HTTPS proxy.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli http-proxy add name=proxy_name address=ip_addr username=user

Community Edition | Getting Started | 16

 password=password port=8080 proxy-types=http,https
The port number can be the common ports 8080 or 8443, or whichever ports are open through your proxy server.
Specify the proxy address as an IP address or domain name.

4. Ensure that proxy is added successfully by displaying the proxy settings.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli http-proxy ls

To update proxy settings, use the ncli http-proxy edit command with the same options above. To delete
the proxy, use the ncli http-proxy delete command with the same options above.

Logging Into the Web Console

Before you begin
Behind a proxy server? See Configuring Proxy Server Settings Before Logging Into the Web Console on
page 16 first.

About this task

To log into the web console, do the following:

Procedure

1. Open a web browser and browse to http://management_ip_addr. Replace management_ip_addr with the IP
address of any Nutanix Controller VM in the cluster.
The browser is redirected to the encrypted port (9440) and displays an SSL certificate warning. Acknowledge the
warning and proceed to the site.

2. First-time logon: Do this step if you have logged on to your Community Edition cluster for the first time.

a. Log on with the default admin account user name and password of (Nutanix/4u).

b. When prompted, change the default admin password, then log on with the admin account user name and new
password.
c. Type your Nutanix Next Community account user name and password and press Enter or click the right arrow
icon.
Click +Create Account if you have not joined the Next Community. Community Edition checks to ensure that
the Community Edition role associated with your account is enabled.

3. After logging on for the first time. Log on with the admin account user name and new password.

Creating the Datastore: Storage Pool and Container

Procedure

1. Sign in to the Nutanix web console.

Community Edition | Getting Started | 17

2. In the Storage dashboard, click the Storage Pool button.
The Create Storage Pool dialog box appears.

3. Enter the storage pool parameters.

a. Name: Enter a name for the storage pool.

b. Capacity: Check the box to use the available unallocated capacity for this storage pool.
c. When all the field entries are correct, click the Save button.

4. In the Storage dashboard, click the Container button.

The Create Container dialog box appears.

Figure 2: Create Container

Community Edition | Getting Started | 18

 5. Create the container.
Do the following in the indicated fields:

a. Name: Type the name default for the container.

For Community Edition clusters, if you name the container anything other than the default you must use
the --container parameter with the VM management scripts.
b. Storage Pool: Select the storage pool you created above from the drop-down list.
The following field, Max Capacity, displays the amount of free space available in the selected storage pool.

Note: Advanced Settings include the ability to set the replication factor. For single-node clusters, you can
see the alert message Replication factor of oplog on container default is set to 1.
Obviously, you cannot select a replication factor of 2, and, as a result, single-node clusters do not provide
resiliency or High Availability features, as multi-node clusters do.

c. When all the field entries are correct, click the Save button.

Creating a VM by Using the Web Console

You can create a new virtual machine (VM) through the web console.

About this task

To create a VM, do the following:

Community Edition | Getting Started | 19

Procedure

1. In the VM dashboard, click the Create VM button.

The Create VM dialog box appears.

Figure 3: Create VM Dialog Box

2. Do the following in the indicated fields:

a. Name: Enter a name for the VM.

b. Compute: Enter the number of vCPUs to allocate to this VM.
c. Memory: Enter the amount of memory (in MiBs) to allocate to this VM.

Community Edition | Getting Started | 20

3. To attach a disk to the VM, click the plus symbol to the right of the Disks field.
The Add Disks dialog box appears.

Figure 4: Add Disks Dialog Box

Do the following in the indicated fields:

a. Type: Select the type of storage device, DISK, or CDROM, from the pull-down list.
The following fields and options vary depending on whether you choose DISK, or CDROM.
b. Operation: Specify the device contents from the pull-down list.

• Select Clone from Image to copy an existing system image onto the device.
• Select Empty CDROM to create a blank CDROM device. (This option appears only when CDROM is
selected in the previous field.) A CDROM device is needed when you intend to provide a system image
from CDROM.
• Select Allocate on Container to allocate space without specifying an image. (This option appears only
when DISK is selected in the previous field.) Selecting this option means you are allocating space only.
Provide a system image later from a CDROM or other source.
c. Bus Type: Select the bus type from the pull-down list. The choices are IDE, SCSI, or SATA.
d. Path: Enter the path to the desired system image.
This field appears only when Clone from Image is selected. It specifies the image to copy. Enter the path
name as /container_name/iso_name.iso. For example to clone an image frommyos.iso in a container
named crt1, enter /crt1/myos.iso. When a user types the container name (/container_name/), a list

Community Edition | Getting Started | 21

 appears of the ISO files in that container (assuming one or more ISO files had previously been copied to that
container).
e. Container: Select the storage container to use from the pull-down list.
This field appears only when Allocate on Container is selected. The list includes all containers created for
this cluster.
f. Size: Enter the disk size in GiBs.
This field appears only when Allocate on Container is selected.
g. When all the field entries are correct, click the Add button to attach the disk to the VM and return to the
Create VM dialog box.
h. Repeat this step to attach more devices to the VM.

4. To create a network interface for the VM, click the plus symbol to the right of the NIC field.
The Create NIC dialog box appears.

Figure 5: Create NIC Dialog Box

Do the following in the indicated fields:

a. VLAN ID: Select the target virtual LAN from the pull-down list.
The list includes all defined networks.
b. VLAN Details: This is a read-only field that displays the VLAN UUID.
c. Network Address/Prefix: This is a read-only field that displays the network IP address and prefix.
d. IP Address: Enter an IP address for the VLAN.
This field appears only if the NIC is placed in a managed network. Entering an IP address in this field is
optional when the network configuration provides an IP pool. If the field is left blank, the NIC is assigned an
IP address from the pool.
e. When all the field entries are correct, click the Create button to create the network interface for the VM and
return to the Create VM dialog box.
f. Repeat this step to create other network interfaces for the VM.

5. When all the field entries are correct, click the Save button to create the VM and close the Create VM dialog
box.
The new VM appears in the VM table view.

Community Edition | Getting Started | 22

TROUBLESHOOTING
Recovering From USB Failure (CE)
Handle a USB failure in Community Edition.

About this task

If a USB drive has failed, follow this procedure to recover from the drive failure without needing to do a clean
reinstall of CE.

Procedure

1. Power off the node.

2. Image a new USB drive with the desired CE image and boot into it.

3. Log on with the user name install (a password is not required).

4. On the first page, select a keyboard layout using the Up or Down arrow keys.

5. From the install options on the next page, choose Repair Host.

6. On the next page, enter the host IP address, netmask, and gateway information, and press Enter to repair the host.
After the repair, it will take approximately 2 minutes for the CVM to boot.

Recovering From SSD Failure (CE)

Handle an SSD failure in Community Edition.

About this task

If an SSD drive has failed, follow this procedure to recover from the drive failure without needing to do a clean
reinstall of CE.

Note: Perform this operation only when the node is part of a cluster that contains three or more nodes.

Procedure

1. Remove the metadata drive from the cluster.

a. Run ncli disk remove-start id=cvm_boot_disk_id.

b. Log on as root on the host and run sudo /root/cleanup.sh.

2. Insert the new SSD and logon with the username install. (A password is not required.)

3. From the install options on the next page, choose Repair CVM.

4. On the next page, enter the CVM IP address, netmask, and gateway, and if necessary edit the pre-populated host
IP address, netmask, and gateway information to complete the installation.

5. On the next page, confirm CVM boot disk found.

It takes up to 15 minutes for the CVM to boot.

Community Edition | Troubleshooting | 23

 6. From another node in the cluster, run the boot_disk_replace command.
boot_disk_replace --cvm_ip=cvm_ip_address
where cvm_ip_address is the CVM IP address of the node where you replaced the SSD.

7. If the disk service does not start, restart Genesis.

nutanix@cvm$ genesis restart

Recovering From CVM Error (CE)

Recover from a Genesis failure caused by running a CVM break-fix on a single node.

About this task

While running a CVM break-fix, there is no way to validate whether the node is a part of the cluster. So, if you run a
CVM break-fix on a single node, Genesis will fail with the following error:

2016-08-23 16:48:06 ERROR node_manager.py:4736 Zookeeper mapping is unconfigured

2016-08-23 16:48:06 INFO node_manager.py:2923 Starting vlan_sniffer with command: /home/
nutanix/cluster/bin/vlan_sniffer_proxy --sniffer_args='-n -i br0 ip6 multicast and ip6 proto 17
and port 13000'
2016-08-23 16:48:06 ERROR node_manager.py:4714 Disk mounted on /home/nutanix/data/
stargate-storage/disks/9XG8444A/WAL_alt is not empty
2016-08-23 16:48:06 CRITICAL node_manager.py:4761 Data disks are not clean.

If this happens, use the following procedure to recover without needing to reinstall CE.

Procedure

1. Run the clean_disks command.

nutanix@cvm$ run clean_disks -p /dev/hard_disk_id1
where hard_disk_id is the name of the disk in CVM. (Only disks that are not CVM boot drives must be cleaned).

2. Restart Genesis.
nutanix@cvm$ genesis restart

Community Edition | Troubleshooting | 24

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2021 Nutanix, Inc.
Nutanix, Inc.
1740 Technology Drive, Suite 150
San Jose, CA 95110
All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property
laws. Nutanix and the Nutanix logo are registered trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and/or other
jurisdictions. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be
trademarks of their respective holders.

Community Edition | Copyright | 25